Page 19 of Camilla & Dallas
And yet, as she stared into the eyes of the man who had made her fall in love with him only to disappear and return seemingly better than ever, she couldn’t find it in her heart to deny his request.
She sighed. “Yeah, okay.”
Dallas flashed her a smile. It wasn’t one of his brighter ones. Honestly, it barely reached his eyes. But it was there nonetheless, and she couldn’t help the giddiness it stirred within her. Dallas might not see her as relationship material, but he still cared about her enough to attempt to mend the rift he’d torn in their lives. “Cool,” he murmured.
“Is that everything you needed?” she asked. And somehow she wasn’t surprised when he nodded before heading back to the ATV he’d arrived on.
9
Dallas
Dallas shoved his research journal into his pack and headed toward the cabin. It had been two weeks since he’d gotten up the courage to get onto his ATV and head to the house.
Initially, he’d told himself he was going to spill everything. Camilla’s life being threatened had been more than enough to give him a sharp dose of reality. It was two weeks later and he still got surges of adrenaline thinking about how close that wolf had been to launching at her.
He shook off the trepidation that memory still contained.
The whole drive back to the house, he’d told himself that Camilla deserved to know how he felt about her. She deserved to know that he still wanted her—that he was willing to put his hat in the ring when it came to her and she should give him another chance.
But then he caught sight of her boyfriend. And he’d read the disgust written so clearly in his sister’s eyes.
He’d made mistakes and he wasn’t worthy of Camilla’s love. Maybe in the future. But right now? He had a lot of making up to do.
So he’d settled on not disrupting her life.
Not again.
And he’d spoken the words as he thrust the dagger of pain right into his chest.
Friendship.
After a whirlwind romance with the woman of his dreams, he’d been reduced to nothing more than a friend who could be there for her. Maybe it was all he deserved.
Dallas stepped over a shrub and ducked beneath a low-hanging branch. The closer he got to the cabin, the closer he’d get to her. He’d leave his stuff and head over to the main house.
Jason had offered the invite for him to eat with the other wranglers at Winding Creek, and as much as it pained him to be brought into the fold by the man currently holding Camilla’s heart, he wasn’t going to deny himself.
If he was lucky, he’d be able to spend some one-on-one time with her before dinner while her boyfriend was occupied. And though he’d never be with a woman that was taken, was it such a bad thing that he was excited about the notion of stealing some of her precious time during the day?
Regardless if it was, he’d still be doing it, even if it meant they could only be friends.
Camilla had changed over the last seven years, and he was bound and determined to get to know the person she’d become.
Dallas shoveda piece of paper toward Camilla and watched her reaction carefully. When he’d gone into research, he’d gottenbetter at the sketches he used to draw. He wasn’t Van Gogh by any means, but he could draw out simple images of plant life and animal tracks for his journals.
Camilla eyed him skeptically before opening the paper.
For two weeks they’d been spending spurts of time together.
Two weeks of avoiding topics like love and dating.
Two weeks and she was finally looking at him like he hadn’t torn her heart from her chest and started it on fire.
Her eyes widened and she gasped. “Dallas! Did you draw this?”
One side of his mouth quirked upward, and he nodded.
“It’s beautiful,” she whispered, her fingers tracing the shaded lines of the Colorado blue columbine flower. He didn’t know what her favorite wildflower was, but this was his and he’d gotten pretty good at it if he said so himself.
